Duke of Burgundy

Good conditions for butterflying this morning. About 13°C with broken clouds and sunny spells. A good chance of finding butterflies before they became too active and an opportunity to improve on my year list.

First Stop was Rewell Wood for the Pearl-bordered Fritillaries. I always find the Pearl-bordered here but it sometimes takes some searching. Fortunately I was on a working party in the wood about 18 months ago cutting scallops for the butterflies to move into and it seemed like a good place to start.

There was nothing moving when I got there but then the sun came out and they began to appear. I think about twenty five sightings with a max of five butterflies in the air at any one time. It looks like another good year for the Pearl-bordered.

Pearl-bordered Fritillary

The pearls are on the underside of the wing but with these butterflies just warming up none would oblige with a closed wing shot. The problem is that once they warm up they become very active. They move quickly, they do not put down much, and they have a habit of just disappearing in front of your eyes. So I decided to cut my losses and move on.



Next stop was Kithurst Hill to look for the Duke of Burgundy. No rush here, the Dukes are late risers and it's not worth looking much before eleven o'clock. Fortunately I found a Green Hairstreak to keep me busy, my first of the year,

Green Hairstreak

and there were a few Dingy Skippers flying in the meadow.

Dingy Skipper

The Dukes are easy butterflies to photograph. They do not fly very fast or very far and they usually return to the same small territory where they are happy to sit whilst you take your pictures. But don't be fooled, anything flies into their territory, particularly another Duke and they are off in hot pursuit.

Duke of Burgandy

The Dukes are the only members of the Metalmark family to be found in Europe. They were in serious decline but the last couple of years has seen them expanding their territory in southern England. Butterfly Conservation and its teams of volunteers are restoring habitat along the downs and the butterflies seem to be taking advantage of the opportunity.


Only one Blue seen today, a Holy Blue passing through the meadow. Traditionally I see the Dukes and Pearl-bordered on the same day in early May and I usually manage to find a Small Blue at the same time. No such luck this year.

Holly Blue

Hawfinch

A quick turnaround at home and we were off again for a couple of days photographing Hawfinches in the Forest of Dean. Last year we had thirty two of them on the ground just a few feet in front of the hide. I was surprised by the numbers but I thought this was going to be the norm. Sadly that wasn't the case. This year the flocks seem to have broken up a couple of weeks earlier and the Hawfinches had already dispersed to nesting territories.

We did see some Hawfinches, probably eight on the first day, three close and five distant, but none on the second day, with just one heard in the trees above us. Compared with last year picture opportunities were a bit limited. You can only see this as a missed opportunity. Last year we managed to get some great pictures and were also able to pass on a lot of valuable ringing data to our local contact. It would have been good to get a similar result.

Still, before we move onto the Hawfinches a couple of shots of Reed Warblers. Checking my records I didn't record seeing one last year so this was an early target. We had stopped off at Slimbridge on the way to the Forest of Dean. There was not much to see, very distant views of Common Cranes plus two or three of these chasing each other through the reeds.

Reed Warbler

Thursday, on location with the hides up, the first Hawfinch appeared just before six . I took a couple of shots but the light levels were just too low. By seven they had improved a bit and I was up to 1/160 sec at ISO 1600 and f5.6. Far from perfect but at least I could get a picture provided that the birds came close and stood still.

 At nine we had a third bird close enough to photograph. The light had not improved but this one did stay around for a while and gave some good picture opportunities.

We stayed in the hides for another three hours but there were no more birds on the ground and only a few calling in the trees. Six hours for three birds is a meagre return but it was at least better than the Friday where at a second site we had one bird calling in the trees and none visible on the ground.


I enjoyed the trip, the results were a bit disappointing but we live off the success of last year. The pain of sitting for six hours on that little stool in the hide is disappearing and we are already planning a return trip for next year.



To finish - Perhaps it makes him look a little less attractive to a predator?

Mallorca - the rest

Raptors were in short supply during the week we were in Mallorca. An Eleonora's Falcon would have been nice but I think we were a couple of weeks too early. Best Raptor of the trip was this Black Vulture photographed above the Cuber reservoir.

Black Vulture

Booted Eagles were a common sight at various places we visited and we also managed to pick up lots of Kestrels and Marsh Harriers.

Booted Eagle

Marsh Harrier

Kestrel

The Boquer valley was a bit of a disappointment. It is a lovely walk and well worth doing but other than one distant Rock Thrush, a few Sardinian Warblers, and a couple of Booted Eagles we did not see much. Fortunately I had taken some reasonable pictures of a Rock Thrush at Beachy Head only a couple of weeks before (see here)

It was worth spending some time at the start of the walk in the area between the car park and Finca Boquer (Boquer Farm). The farm is private property but you are allowed to walk through it and it gives some wonderful views out across the adjacent fields and wooded areas.

Cirl Bunting in the fields below the Finca

Pied Flycatcher at the Finca

Woodchat Shrike in the fields below the finca

We saw three different Woodchat Shrikes but the only ones close enough to photograph insisted on giving me long views of their backs.

Sardinian Warbler at various sites

Serin at the Pine avenue

Yellow Wagtail (Iberiea) Albufereta

Spotted Flycatcher 

The local race of Spotted Flycatcher, balearica, is noticeably paler and less streaked than the ones we see in the UK.

Wheatear - Cuber Reservoir 

Yellow-legged Gull - Puerto Pollenca

The problem with birding in a place like Mallorca is that you want to visit every location and see every bird. It was our first time there and that is what we tried to do. I think that if I were to go back I would be a bit more selective. Identify just a few target birds and spend the time getting some really good pictures.

Mallorca - Son Bosc and the Depuradora

We made three visits to the Depuradora, a sewage works and settlement pools on the southern edge of the Albufera. There is an observation platform gives good views out over the pools and there are also good birding opportunities from the access road in the area known as the Son Bosc. This is a mix of wasteland, low intensity farming and a few old quarry areas.

Birds seen in this small area included:-

Roller (at least two)
Bee-eaters
Thekla Lark
Short-toed Lark
Stone Curlew
Woodchat Shrike
Hoopoe
Tawney Pipit
Marbled Duck
Ferruginous Duck
Garganey
Whiskered Tern
White-cheeked Pintail (Bahama Pintail)

As well as numerous Nightingales, Cetti's Warblers, flyovers by Squacco, Night, and Purple Herons, and various birds of prey. There is limited cover along the road or from the platform so the birds tend to be a bit distant but there were some good picture opportunities.

Roller

Bee-eater

Ferruginous Duck

Marbled Duck

Whiskered Tern

Stone Curlew

The Stone Curlew wasn't too difficult to find. We had watched it fly in and knew it was there. It took a bit of searching but that eye really makes a difference.

Some of the other little brown birds were a bit harder to spot against the ploughed fields. The Thekla Lark below stands out as it is silhouetted against the lighter ground but without cover it is unlikely that the birds will come closer and it is difficult to get photographs.

Thekla Lark using 420mm lens combination

Thekla Lark - big crop from the shot above

Cetti's Warbler

And one unusual find, an Egyptian Grasshopper. I think this is a female. It is about six centimetres long and although it is quite common around the Mediterranean area this is the first one I have seen.

Egyptian Grasshopper

A few years ago permission was granted to build a golf course on the Son Bosc area. Work did start but this now seems to have been blocked by the Mallorcan authorities. It would be a great loss to the birding world. A better solution would be to include it in the Albufera Natural Park to give it long term protection.

Mallorca - s'Albufera

I have just returned from a weeks birding in Mallorca. It was good but perhaps not quite as good as I expected. We saw around ninety five species and I ended up with fourteen life ticks so it can't all be bad. However, we lost a day to bad weather, travelling around the island was a nightmare, with thousands of racing cyclists clogging up all the roads, and despite generally good lighting conditions the picture opportunities were limited.

So much for the moans, how about the good points. The main one, in a week, I only saw one dog walker, bliss, no disturbance for me and no disturbance for all the ground nesting birds.

We stayed near Puerto Pollenca giving easy access to the Albufereta, the S'Albufera, the Boquer Valley and the mountains in the north of the island. It was also close to our first target bird the Audouin's Gull.

In the 60s this species was down to around 1000 pairs worldwide. Conservation has enabled a recovery in numbers but it is still endangered and one of the worlds rarest gulls. You wouldn't think so standing on Pollenca beach. Wave a bread roll in the air and you have plenty of volunteers to have their picture taken.

They even come in pairs although there wasn't much sharing of food between them.

Still at least it gives them something to do whilst waiting for the next bread roll.

Our first full day was at the Park Natural de s'Albufera. It is a great place but don't go there on a Sunday. The locals use it as a somewhere to go for a walk with the family and it was full of people. Weekdays it is a bit quieter. You see a lot of the birds that you would find in a wetland in the UK but there are also some unusual ones and some like the Black-winged Stilt are just a bit more common than at home.

Black-winged Stilt

The Park also gave me four life ticks in Purple Swamphen, Collared Pratincol and Squacco Heron, although none of them gave me a decent picture, and Zitting Cisticola that gave me no picture at all.

Purple Swamphen

Collared Pratincol

Squacco Heron

Not life ticks but other great birds seen included Osprey, Great Reed Warbler, Night Heron, Red-knobbed Coot, and the very common (over there) Kentish Plover.

Osprey

Great Reed Warbler

Night Heron

Kentish Plover

Red-knobbed Coot

The Red-knobbed Coot is part of a program to reintroduce the bird to the Albufera from mainland Spain, hence the neck band.



On the southern edge of the s'Albufera you will find the Depuradora, a sewage works with an observation platform giving views across the settlement pools. This and the narrow road leading to it were the must visit location for our trip and the next blog will cover this area.